Struggles continue for La Cañada football
ARCADIA — Highlights were difficult to come by for the La Cañada High football team Saturday evening in a game that played out very much as a microcosm of the season and its struggles thus far for the Spartans.
Turnovers, a lack of a running game and confusion from play to play stifled the Spartans offense, while the La Cañada defense was too often unable to stop the rushing attack of host Rio Hondo Prep.
It all added up to a 52-0 defeat for the Spartans against the Kares, furthering the worst start to a season for La Cañada this century as they dropped to 0-5.
“It’s a tough one for us,” said first-year Spartans coach Jason Sarceda, whose team trailed, 29-0, after the first quarter and, 42-0, at halftime with a running clock closing out the game from the last possession of the first half onward. “Going into the bye right now, we have to regroup. We continue to be unable to establish consistency on both sides of the ball.”
La Cañada, playing its nonleague finale, will have an upcoming bye week before opening up Rio Hondo League play against San Marino on Oct. 6.
It will look to shore up a defense that allowed 470 yards of offense (332 in the first half) to Rio Hondo Prep (3-1), with 367 coming on the ground.
The Spartans’ offense, which was shut out for the second time this season (not including a forfeit loss), could just never get going.
Under duress much of the game and plagued by dropped passes, Spartans quarterback Eric Helbing completed just nine of 27 passes for 125 yards and three interceptions. Tobias Humphrey had four catches for 75 yards.
La Cañada’s defense, which had an interception from John Humphrey and a fumble recovery by Jacob Hardy, had little answer for the Rio Hondo running game.
Rio Hondo’s Bryant Flores had 10 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown, Alex Esquiaqui had a touchdown and 109 yards on eight carries and Matthew Joe had a score and 85 yards in 15 carries. Mikey Tsogt added a rushing touchdown and two touchdown passes as he caught three passes for 103 yards, which were the only completed passes for the Kares.
The Spartans’ running game was also led by Helbing, who had 23 yards in six carries. But a La Cañada rushing attack was non-existant for the most part as 17 carries netted 23 yards.
“We do have to establish the run,” Sarceda said.
Humphrey’s interception ended Rio Hondo’s opening drive, but the Kares scored on four of their next five possessions in the first quarter, which took more than 50 minutes as many of the Spartans’ drives ended quickly with incomplete passes stopping the clock. The Spartans never advanced into Kares’ territory in the first quarter, while Rio Hondo never started with worse first-quarter position than its own 47-yard line.
Last season, La Cañada beat Rio Hondo, 20-0, but a very young and inexperienced Spartans squad is now on the field.
“We have to be able to compete,” Sarceda said. “We have to concentrate on every little piece of it.”
Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon
